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Vale: Robbie Coltrane

Actor Robbie Coltrane, best known for Harry Potter films and Cracker, has died

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Actor Robbie Coltrane, best known for Harry Potter films and Cracker, has died aged 72.

He died in hospital in Scotland on Friday following two years of ill health.

Hs agent Belinda Wright described Coltrane as a “unique talent”, adding his role as Hagrid “brought joy to children and adults alike all over the world”.

“For me personally I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client. As well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly witty and after 40 years of being proud to be called his agent, I shall miss him.”

His career began in 1979 in the TV series Play for Today, but he came to prominence in A Kick Up the Eighties, a comedy series which also starred Tracey Ullman, Miriam Margolyes and Rik Mayall.

He also appeared in the 1983 comedy Alfresco, with Fry, Emma Thompson, Siobhan Redmond and Hugh Laurie.

By 1987 he had a leading role in Tutti Frutti, about Scottish rock and roll band The Majestics, which also starred Emma Thompson and Richard Wilson. The year before he was in British crime film Mona Lisa, starring Bob Hoskins.

Coltrane gained further fame starring as criminal psychologist Dr Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald in Cracker from 1993 to 1995 and in a special return episode in 2006. The role secured him the Bafta award for best actor for three consecutive years from 1994 to 1996.

In 8 Harry Potter film series as he starred as Rubeus Hagrid.

“Robbie was one of the funniest people I’ve met and used to keep us laughing constantly as kids on that set,” said Daniel Radcliffe.

“I’ve especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on Prisoner of Azkaban, when we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid’s hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up.

“I feel incredibly lucky that I got to meet and work with him and very sad that he’s passed. He was an incredible actor and a lovely man.”

Emma Watson said: “Robbie, if I ever get to be so kind as you were to me on a film set I promise I’ll do it in your name and memory.”

In 2016, he starred in Bafta-winning drama National Treasure, with Dame Julie Walters, about a comic and TV host accused of sexual abuse of women.

Late last year he appeared in the Harry Potter reunion TV special, which reunited cast.

Coltrane was made an OBE in the 2006 New Year’s honours list for his services to drama and he was awarded the Bafta Scotland Award for outstanding contribution to film in 2011.

Source: BBC

5 Responses

  1. I remember watching the Potter reunion special and thinking “I know he’s been not well, but …” He knew (and I think I knew too) then his time was finite. The poignancy of him talking about his grandkids and his celluloid legacy really hits home now.

    That said, he was absolutely one of my favourite actors to watch. I was just a bit too young for ‘Cracker’ the first time around, but I got the box set a few years ago and devoured it in about a week. Like most my age, ‘Blackadder the Third’ was my introduction. At the time, ‘National Treasure’ was deeply unsettling for me given what was happening in my life; but mesmerising. “GoldenEye” and “Alfresco” are 2 of my favourite films anyway, but they get elevated by Robbie’s performance.

    I know he had a somewhat reclusive end to his life which may overshadow his legacy, but he’s going to be immortal thanks to 8 films that are now 20-ish years old. And that’s pretty amazing.

  2. One of the most underrated movies he was in was The Supergrass, no stunt double, no CGI, for anyone needing a dose of pure grit, determination and b..ls of titanium, now that’s how it’s done. RIP Robbie you where a pleasure to watch you.

  5. I know him best from his early 80s comedy work, and Nuns On The Run.

    What this means though, is that when Channel Seven finish their current run of weekly Harry Potter movie reruns they won’t have to wait the mandatory 3 weeks before starting the sequence again, they will be able to go straight back into the sequence with no break whatsoever.

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